Bursting the iPhone bubble

Posted Aug 27th 2008 4:00PM by Mike Schramm
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, Apple, Developer, iPhone, App Store, SDK

John Casasanta has written up a pretty damning condemnation of the vulture venture capitalists (VCs) hovering around the iPhone's App Store lately. While many developers are smelling a lot of potential in the iPhone and its SDK, VCs are smelling lots of money, and unfortunately, as was apparently the case between Mike Lee and Tapulous recently, sometimes those smells lead the two in different directions.

It's not that there isn't money to be made in the App Store -- there are some great programs coming out of there, and those programs are certainly worth paying for (even if a lot of them are offered for free anyway). But Casasanta describes a situation where venture capitalists are willing to pay out in spades even for shovelware, and in that kind of environment, no one profits. Not the VCs and developers who lose their money because no one wants their crappy programs, not the consumers who have to sort through a flood of terrible apps, and not the platform -- the Mac, as Casasanta says, is thriving because of the quality of the software, and the iPhone (though it will likely always be a popular phone) will thrive as a platform for the same reasons.

Casasanta's solution is for the developers to do things on their own, and that's a possibility everyone has to consider for themselves. Even well-funded developers can create valuable pieces of software. Whether you receive funding from a VC or from your own bank account, the focus while developing should always be on quality. And any developer pushing out 100 apps by the end of the year (as Casasanta's VC asked) lacks that focus.

Control pads for gaming on the iPhone

Posted Aug 27th 2008 2:00PM by Mike Schramm
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Hardware, Developer, iPhone

Ever since games first started running on the iPhone, the issue of controls has always been at hand (so to speak). While the multi-touch screen allows for some very flexible control schemes, it doesn't provide any tactile feedback, and so more delicate controls like a directional pad or buttons aren't always doable (not to mention that they often take up valuable screen space).

Enter the iControlPad, a device that wraps itself around your iPhone and provides some tactile controls to software (we posted about it back in May, but we're closer to seeing an actual release than ever). Touch Arcade's got more on how it works, and pictures of another rumored device (though no manufacturer is mentioned). Button presses are delivered via the serial port, and jailbroken apps already support the pad, with full code and SDK support to come.

Pretty interesting -- iControlPad wants to sell theirs for less than $30, and of course if the idea takes off, they'll have some competition (maybe even from Apple?). The iPhone is already a great gaming device -- would a button-based peripheral make it even better?

Favorite iPhone apps: Schramm's take

Posted Aug 27th 2008 1:00PM by Mike Schramm
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Freeware, iPhone, App Store

As you might imagine, my iPhone is more littered with games than useful stuff like Steve's or Victor's. Sure, I've got Twitterific and NetNewsWire, but my most-used apps are of the video game variety.

The game that's most grabbed me so far is Aurora Feint. When it was first released, I didn't get much out of it, but since it's been updated a few times, Aurora Feint has turned into a pretty deep puzzle/RPG. There have been some security scares, unfortunately, and the game's "MMO" promises haven't yet come to fruition. But for sheer matching puzzle gameplay (it's similar to the great Poker Smash on Xbox Live), it's probably the most addictive game on the App Store.

My second favorite is Characters (I originally wrote about it on WoW Insider). If you play World of Warcraft and have an iPhone, this is the closest thing you'll find to an official Blizzard app. It lets you see every bit of information on the Armory in a very nice-looking iPhone app format. We're still waiting on Blizzard to provide us with an iPhone version of the in-game Auction House or mailbox, but until then, this is a great way to look up the WoW characters of folks you meet.

And finally, I've been really impressed with Midomi (and also the similar Shazam), a music recognition app. Hit the app, let it listen to a song you're hearing (or even you singing the song or saying the lyrics), and it'll tell you exactly what that song is. And once you've find it, you can listen to it, find it in iTunes or on Youtube, or see band pictures and reviews. Midomi is the kind of app I've never had on any other devices I've owned, and yet I've put it to great use a few times.

Honorable mentions go to Freeverse's (renamed) Moto Chaser, which is consistently the game that most impresses people playing with my iPhone; Trism, which turned out to be an excellent game, and Frotz and Sketches, both of which I've written about here before.

And I'm still waiting for two things: some great persistent pet gameplay (Wil Shipley, what happened to all of those ideas?), and some great location-based MMO gameplay as well. There's good stuff out there, but we're still just getting started in the App Store.

Wired iPhone reception survey results

Posted Aug 25th 2008 1:00PM by Mike Schramm
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Surveys and Polls, iPhone

Wired has published the results of the iPhone reception survey they were running, and clearly Antarctica needs way more coverage. But they also pulled a lot of useful data out of places where people actually live, and it probably doesn't surprise you.

3G performance is slow almost all over, especially in cities where the 3G service is getting overloaded. If you want to have fast speeds, hang out in Germany and the Netherlands -- those folks had the fastest speeds (and it's no coincidence that the 3G network there has three extra development years on its American counterpart). The worst reception is apparently in Australia, as Optus and Virgin users had their iPhones chugging along at just 759 Kbps.

What can we draw from this? Just like those Swedish scientists told us, it's the service, not the phone. But you know what Mark Twain said about statistics, so just in case you want to draw your own conclusions, Wired has kindly made a Google Spreadsheet of all the data available to anyone who wants it. Anyone want to try putting together that heatmap?

Cyan porting Myst to iPhone

Posted Aug 22nd 2008 9:00AM by Mike Schramm
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Multimedia, Software

An employee of Cyan Worlds (proprietors of the legendary Myst series of games) has announced that they will be porting the original Myst to the iPhone. Apparently it's an "outside-funded" project -- though who might be funding it isn't yet clear -- and is apparently proving to be an "interesting and fun" project with a small team of just three people. No word yet on how it might work (or work differently) from the original, but the classic puzzle/exploration of Myst is good gaming no matter what platform you're playing it on.

Starting with the NES emulator, the iPhone was following the evolution of gaming pretty well -- at least until the App Store started mixing things up a bit. After Myst, I think we're right around Wolfenstein and Doom at this point -- those were available jailbroken, but it's about time we get an FPS officially as well. Carmack, you interested?

[via TouchArcade, which is strangely down as of this writing]

Transgaming to use SecuROM for Cider games

Posted Aug 21st 2008 10:00AM by Mike Schramm
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Software, Apple, Security

As if Mac gaming needed more problems getting off the ground. Transgaming has proudly announced that in the future, their games will include Sony's SecuROM digital rights management software. They don't mention which games will be getting the extremely restrictive DRM (that some folks have compared to malware), but we're guessing all of them, which means the Mac version of Spore will be on that list, as well as those upcoming Ubisoft titles, and anything else produced with the Cider technology.

Bummer. Why is it a bummer? Because all the evidence we can see actually shows that DRM hurts sales. While Transgaming is obviously proud of this decision, claiming that SecuROM will help them prevent piracy and unauthorized copying, most of the evidence shows that piracy will happen in spite of, and sometimes even because of restrictive DRM setups like Sony's. Transgaming is making a serious mistake here -- they want to protect their games, which is fine. But choosing DRM, especially SecuROM, as a way to do it is a mistake. It'll cause more problems for the company and their users before it prevents piracy in the way they think it will.

[via IMG]

Microsoft developer talks about Office 2008 update issues

Posted Aug 21st 2008 8:00AM by Mike Schramm
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, Odds and ends, Blogging, Developer

Erik Schwiebert is one of the lead developers on the Mac Business Unit team under the Microsoft banner. I find their position constantly interesting -- even in these enlightened days of Safari for Windows, many dyed-in-the-wool Mac users still consider Microsoft the enemy, and yet the Mac BU has always been like a kind of diplomatic envoy. We have to use things like Office and Entourage, so we cautiously let them across the border, regarding them like strange visitors from the other side of the wall.

But maybe that's just all in my mind. Recently, the Mac BU released an update for Office 2008, and lots of users, apparently, have suffered from error problems while trying to install it. So many, in fact, that Schwiebert has responded to the problems on his blog, saying that the problems are most likely because users have deleted or otherwise messed with files inside the installation, causing the installer to abort. And that strange Mac BU/Mac users fragile truce comes into play here as well -- he specifically calls out Xslimmer and Monolingual, two programs that delete often-unnecessary files in OS X, for causing the issues.

There's a workaround floating around, but Schwiebert warns it leaves the application suite in a possibly unstable and unsupportable state. Unfortunately, Schwiebert doesn't really offer any solutions (other, we guess, than to reinstall the software so that it's back to the full install, and then apply the update). And the alliance between the Mac BU and their users remains fragile -- we've got to work together, but it seems that many are unhappy about it.

iPwn games interview with Astro Farm guys

Posted Aug 19th 2008 9:00AM by Mike Schramm
Filed under: Gaming, Multimedia, Software, iPhone, App Store

Like many not-yet-released videogames, I'm a little worried that Astro Ranch won't be as good as the game in my head right now. Anytime a developer says they were influenced by great games like Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon, as the Tag Games guys do in this interview with the cleverly-named iPwn Games, I get overly excited. A deep simulation game with a casual skin? It sounds just too good to be true.

But who knows -- maybe the upcoming Astro Ranch will be worth the excitement. Paul Farley certainly makes it sound good: they say they've been pushing the 3D system to new heights, and that they're aiming to provide a deep enough game to appeal to players with a lot of time on their hands, as well as a fun game that casual players can pick up and then put down after about 10 minutes.

They're aiming for connectivity as well -- the game is based on a '50s-style space ranch, and players will supposedly be able to visit each others' ranches, send messages back and forth and even compete and trade with each other. They even claim to be able to connect iPhone players to farmers playing on the DS, but we'll believe that one when we see it.

Unfortunately, the screenshots don't impress all that much, but just like the iPhone itself, it seems this game's got a lot of potential. Sounds like they're aiming for a release on the iPhone, DS, and the N-Gage (people are still making games for the N-Gage?) later this year. We'll keep an eye out for it.

Fort Worth University Park Village Apple Store almost there

Posted Aug 19th 2008 8:00AM by Mike Schramm
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Humor, Retail

The picture above is not the actual Fort Worth University Park Apple Store, but we presume it'll look something like this when it opens later this month. Our Twitter buddy Jamie Phelps says that "the innards are finished" and the store should be open within the next week or so.

If you were on our last Talkcast, you know how wildly interesting it is to see an Apple Store opening (our own Robert Palmer attended one just last week), so keep an eye on this one, Texans.

Of course, we should mention that as incredibly awesome as our readers are, they are not always trustworthy when it comes to Apple Store news. Our good friend Ged Maheux kindly tipped us a little while ago about an Apple Store opening near him in Greensboro ... which then turned out to be a Williams Sonoma instead (the Apple Store is still opening there, but not until next year). We love our readers -- more than is socially accepted in some parts of the world, really -- but as always, take their Apple Store tips with a requisite grain of salt.

Push pulled from latest iPhone firmware beta

Posted Aug 19th 2008 7:00AM by Mike Schramm
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Software, Apple, iPhone

AppleInsider says that Apple has yanked the Push notification framework from the latest version of the iPhone 2.1 firmware beta. Push got a lot of play during WWDC -- it's a service that will send information to the apps on your iPhone as needed (tweets, for example, will just come rather than having to refresh Twitterific all the time), but apparently Apple doesn't think it's ready for the stage yet. They've wiped it from the beta, claiming it needs "further development," and haven't given any indication of when it might return.

Here's hoping it gets back in there before the expected release sometime in September, but then again, it's not like Apple should be taking any new chances with features right now. From Mobile Meh to iPhone activation problems, Apple's got to make sure that any more widescale releases go as swimmingly as they possibly can.

[Via Engadget]

Ten ways OS X rocks

Posted Aug 14th 2008 4:30PM by Mike Schramm
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, OS, Software, Cool tools

Smashing Magazine does a good old-fashioned "why OS X is so much better" piece -- ok, well they're not that blatant (it's actually focused on the "top ten usability highs"), but with all of the iPhone/App Store news going around, it's kind of refreshing to see some nice, traditional Mac praise.

So why is OS X better than other (*cough*Windows*cough) operating systems? Metaphors play a huge part -- when you use a Mac, you're not just browsing through files or using plugins, you're flipping through what look like album covers, or pulling up a "Dashboard." And everything is extremely intuitive -- it's clear upon first look at the screen what does what or where to find certain features of the operating system.

Every system has problems, and OS X is no exception. But using it day to day, OS X definitely gives out all kinds of "wait, it was that easy?" and "just works" moments. And that's why we're such big fans of it in the first place.

Frotz brings text adventuring to the iPhone

Posted Aug 14th 2008 4:00PM by Mike Schramm
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Freeware, Retro Mac, iPhone, App Store

We've already seen text adventures on the jailbroken iPhone way back when, but now Craig Smith has brought the z-machine interpreter (the engine that runs classic text adventure games like Zork, Planetfall and all the Infocom titles) to the iPhone officially with Frotz, available right now in the App Store.

It comes with a few games to begin with, and there's also built in access to the Interactive Fiction Database, so you can grab as many text-based adventures as you'd like -- hours and hours of text-based good times. Whether you're an old hand at GET LAMP or new to the surprisingly vast world of IF, Frotz seems like a perfect portal to all the adventuring there is to find out there.

[via Joystiq]

Wired.com needs your help testing the iPhone's network speeds

Posted Aug 14th 2008 10:00AM by Mike Schramm
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Internet Tools

Sure, Apple claims the 3G is fast, but with all the problems with 3Gs connecting all over the world, just how fast is it really? The folks at Wired.com have decided to find out, and they need your help. They'd like you to test your iPhone at the TestmyiPhone.com network speed testing site, and then hit up their global ZeeMap to register your speed.

Instructions are over on their website, and they're testing both Edge and 3G upload and download speeds, so you'll have to run three tests total. You'll also have to sign up for a ZeeMap account.

The eventual payoff will be a relatively clear look at iPhone speeds around the world. Wired says that they'll eventually average global data, but there's a lot of things that could be done with data like this -- heatmaps? Speed per carrier? Once they get a good set of figures together, there's probably all kinds of things that can be done.

Fox releases X-Files branded iPods

Posted Aug 14th 2008 9:00AM by Mike Schramm
Filed under: Hardware, iPod Family, Multimedia, Cult of Mac, Odds and ends

We know -- you've wanted an iPod for years, but you've always wanted one branded with your favorite TV show, and that 90210 version didn't cut it. Boy, is it your lucky day. Fox has released some "Limited Edition" X-Files iPod Classics and Nanos, ready for your purchase right now for only $329.00. You read that right -- you're paying almost $100 for pictures of Mulder and Scully. But surely if anyone's worth it, they are, right?

Unfortunately, as TUAW's resident X-Files nerd (well, one of them) Robert Palmer pointed out to me, they're branded with the latest movie's title, not the original TV show, so those who don't actually Want to Believe (y'know, after all these years, why doesn't Mulder just believe already?) will likely be disappointed. But since you can customize them with your name (or whatever else you want on there -- we recommend "Clyde Bruckman"), hopefully the movie's title won't concern true fans too much.

[via Chip Chick]

MotionX Dice lets you roll dem bones on your iPhone

Posted Aug 14th 2008 8:00AM by Mike Schramm
Filed under: Gaming, Software, iPhone

The folks at Fullpower kindly sent us a note about their new iPhone app, MotionX Dice, and after giving it a try, I can say it works as promised -- if you want a good-looking and fun way to roll dice on your iPhone, this is it.

There are several types of well-rendered 3D dice and tables to choose from. The actual "rolling" is done by shaking the iPhone, which is a good time. The app will eventually be raised in price, but right now it can be found for free on the App Store. Frankly, this kind of pricing change smacks of top apps list scamming to us, but we'll give Fullpower the benefit of the doubt, as they say it's a promotion.

However, we do have a bone to pick with Fullpower about this app. As fun as Yahtzee is (though there is one set of Poker dice, so you can play that, too), most of the dice that TUAW nerds -- or former TUAW nerds -- roll are of the d8, d10, and d20 variety. Any chance we can get a few of those added into the dice-rolling mix? d6s are all right for some damage types, but we can't roll a Nat 20 or break out the d4 Magic Missile with the program as it is.

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